NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Crunch Fitness announces it will host its second annual nationwide fundraising event to support the MDA's Augie's Quest, in an effort to help find a cure for ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). The initiative will run throughout the month of February, with various avenues for Crunch members and non members to participate and donate, and help in the fight to find a cure for this debilitating disease.

Augie's Quest was founded by fitness pioneer and founder of Life Fitness, Augie Nieto. Augie was diagnosed with ALS in March 2005, and since, has made it his personal mission to find a cure for the terminal disease by partnering with the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) to create Augie's Quest. Since their inception, Augie's Quest has raised over $26 million for MDA.

On Saturday, February 26th Crunch will host Train for Charity, a one-day event at locations across the country. Sweat for the cause with 30 or 60-minute personal training sessions and specialty group fitness classes like Power Hour Cardio Tai Box, Dance for Donations and AntiGravity Yoga, with Crunch's top trainers and instructors. Training sessions and one-day class passes can be purchased online at http://crunchtrainforcharity.com/special-classes/, with all proceeds going to Augie's Quest.

In the evening, select Crunch locations will host a Trainer Auction. Party for a purpose as guests bid on packages of 5 personal training sessions with Crunch's hottest trainers while mixing and mingling with tasty treats and a live DJ, all in support of finding a cure for ALS. To RSVP go to http://crunchtrainforcharity.com/trainer-auction/.

Crunch will be kicking off their fundraising efforts prior to February 26th, with various in-club and online initiatives - http://crunchtrainforcharity.com/. $5 will be donated to Augie's Quest for every new member that joins, a custom designed "Love Your Muscles" t-shirt can be purchased in the gym or online for $25, and to donate at any time text AUGIE to 20222.

Crunch is a gym that believes in making serious exercise fun by fusing fitness and entertainment and pioneering a philosophy of No Judgments. Renowned for creating unique programming that caters to an exceedingly diverse membership, Crunch has raised the bar for the entire fitness industry. Headquartered in New York City, and owned by New Evolution Ventures (NeV) and private-equity firm Angelo Gordon, Crunch serves over 70,000 members with 28 gyms in New York, Miami, San Francisco/Bay Area, Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, Sacramento and Orange County. Crunch looks to rapidly expand their collection of gyms across the U.S. and around the globe. Go to www.crunch.com for more information.

About Augie's Quest

Fitness pioneer Augie Nieto started Augie's Quest in conjunction with MDA's ALS Division after his diagnosis in March 2005. Nieto, 52, is the former president and co-founder of Life Fitness, and currently serves as chairman of Octane Fitness. He is chief inspiration officer for MDA's Augie's Quest; Nieto and his wife, Lynne, serve as co-chairs of MDA's ALS Division.

ALS destroys the nerve cells controlling voluntary muscle movement, ultimately causing complete paralysis while leaving mental function intact. Survival is typically three to five years after diagnosis, without assistive technologies such as mechanical ventilation and feeding tubes. The cause of ALS isn't fully understood, and no cure exists.

To date, the Augie's Quest campaign has raised over $26 million for ALS research, and has made significant advancements in identifying the set of genes and proteins that are the main players in the disease pathogenesis of ALS.

MDA (www.als-mda.org) is the world's largest nonprofit provider of ALS services and funder of ALS research. Over the years, MDA has invested more than $250 million in the fight against ALS. MDA operates more than 200 clinics nationwide, 36 of which are designated as ALS research and care centers.